New screenings of 'Draw Back the Curtain' follow successful premiere at UR; May event at the Weinstein JCC

May 6, 2015

“Draw Back the Curtain” premiered at the Modlin Center for the Arts on the University of Richmond campus in the fall to an audience of more than 500 people. Additional opportunities to see the film are available this spring and summer.

The film, produced and released by Jewish Family Services and University of Richmond Hillel, is a feature-length documentary detailing the Richmond community’s role in resettling 800 refugees from the former Soviet Union in the late 1980s.

The next screening of “Draw Back the Curtain” will take place at the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Jewish Community Center on May 21, 7 p.m., as part of a celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are limited and must be reserved online. A reception will follow the screening.

Attendees can also view an exhibit in honor of the Russian immigrants as well as a timeline of the “Operation Exodus” campaign in which Jewish Federations across the United States raised the needed funds to aid in their immigration process.

“We look forward to continued enthusiasm as we share the efforts of our community in resettlement years,” said Shir Bodner, “Draw Back the Curtain” director, a business analyst with Jewish Family Services and UR alumna. “We would love for our project to spread to other cities where similar immigration stories are waiting to be captured.”

“Draw Back the Curtain” will air this summer on June 25 at 9 p.m. on WCVE PBS Richmond and WHTJ PBS Charlottesville. The film was shown as part of the Roving Eye International Film Festival in April and has been selected for the Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival in August, where the film is up for the “Best Feature Film” award. A permanent exhibition of the project is located at Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives in Richmond through 2015.